Time Magazine's Bold Cover Places Elon Musk Behind Trump’s Desk

Time Magazine's Bold Cover Places Elon Musk Behind Trump’s Desk

In a provocative move that may have been designed to provoke President Donald Trump, Time magazine's latest cover features Elon Musk sitting behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.

This issue arrives at a time when Trump has granted Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency sweeping authority to overhaul the federal workforce—powers that have faced some resistance in the form of lawsuits in recent days.

The cover itself is simple, showing Musk with a coffee cup, positioned between the presidential desk and the American and presidential flags, set against a red backdrop. The accompanying article by Simon Schuster and Brian Bennett explores Musk’s aggressive efforts, portraying him as wielding unprecedented power over government employees, leaving “millions of government workers at Musk’s mercy.”

The piece suggests that Musk is accountable only to President Trump, who granted him a broad mandate to reshape the government in line with his agenda. "So far, Musk appears accountable to no one but President Trump, who handed his campaign benefactor a sweeping mandate," Schuster and Bennett wrote. Time directed all questions about its feature to the White House, which declined to comment.

This marks the second time in recent months that Musk has graced the cover of Time, having previously appeared in November as "Citizen Musk," with an article casting him as a "kingmaker" in the presidential election. The two covers together seem to suggest that Musk, rather than Trump, is the true power behind the throne—an idea that could provoke Trump, who is known for his complex relationship with the magazine and its symbolic power.

When asked about the cover at the White House on Friday, Trump responded with a lighthearted quip: “Is Time magazine still in business? I didn’t even know that.”

Trump has long held a deep connection to Time, having been named its “Person of the Year” twice, most recently in 2024, and he has previously expressed a strong desire to appear on its cover. His devotion to the magazine once led him to fabricate an issue of Time, praising his reality TV show, "The Apprentice."

If Time’s cover was intended as a provocation, it wouldn’t be the first time the magazine’s front page has created tension between Trump and a prominent supporter. In 2017, Time’s cover featuring Steve Bannon, who was a key figure in Trump’s first administration, caused a stir. Bannon was portrayed as the powerful figure behind the scenes, sparking media portrayals of him as “President Bannon.” That narrative ultimately led to Bannon’s downfall after he was seen as overshadowing Trump and undermining his authority.

As for Musk, who often uses his platform on X (formerly Twitter) to criticize his opponents, he has remained quiet about his latest Time cover appearance. Since Trump’s return to office, Musk’s mandate has been to apply the same forceful tactics that he used to reshape Twitter’s workforce after acquiring the social media platform in 2022. However, Musk has been given considerable freedom to make cuts within the government under his current role.

Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, mentioned during a briefing that if Musk encounters conflicts of interest with contracts or funding, he will recuse himself from those dealings.

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